Millennium Community

Cooking is a messy, delicious, sometimes time-consuming activity, especially when done with a little one helping you along the way. Sure, you may be adding a few more minutes into your cooking routine, but what your child will get out of the experience is pretty amazing. Cooking with children is one of the best ways to make connections across and amongst many disciplines. You’re not just making food, you are teaching science in action; helping to lay down basic math, reading and time-telling skills; encouraging healthy food choices; building confidence and creativity; enhancing communication and deepening connections with your child. Indeed, cooking with little ones is nothing short of awesome.

In the KG section, we held the corn chaat making KG activity in August, 2015. The teacher peeled and skinned the corn and then the kids took the corn off the cob. The teacher boiled the corn. The kids mixed some chopped onions, tomatoes and coriander leaves along with salt and spices and a squeeze of lemon juice and then they mixed it very well. The teacher served a little corn chat for everybody in a plate which the kids ate and enjoyed very much.

Like adults, little ones have their own ideas about how things should be done, which of course includes cooking. At the end, they go home with smiling faces which makes it all worth it!

The young scientists in making – from Std 5 to 12 – displayed their best projects at the Science Fair 2015.
With over a week given for preparation, the children had rounds of discussions with peers, parents and their project guides – the science teachers. Finalizing the topic based on the concept was in itself a big task for them after which they started planning for the actual implementation.
Parents put in their share by helping the students put up their exhibits. 100 odd exhibits were judged by all the science teachers in Round 1.

Little Scientists from 5th and 6th – ‘The Beginners’ had to showcase their talent on the theme “Science behind Magic” or “Adaptations in Nature”. Magic of arrow reversal, drinking candle, magical blooming flowers, the floating paper pin, thirsty candle, catch the rainbow, wonder car, vanishing ink, smoking bubbles and wandering bullet. The children took us through the ages of evolution from the time of dinosaurs to the geography of water crowding penguins, the snow hugging polar bears and the chameleons changing colours. They showed how they adapt to nature through their “fun with science” method. The kids let their imagination go wild and proved it scientifically too.

‘The Scorchers’ from Std 7, 8 and ‘The Experts’ and ‘The Masters’ from 9 to 12 put up their displays on the topics “Science Behind Customs and Traditions” or “Ancient Indian Machines”. They had lots to tell too. Did you know that women wear bangles because the friction with the skin increases the blood circulation? It also told you that Vaastu is not all humbug – you should not sleep with your head facing north because all the iron content in the body get attracted to the brain which is so harmful. The chiming of bells in the temple connect our right brain with the left brain and connects all our senses. You got to learn this and lots more at the wonderful Science Exhibition.
All in all, these bright kids questioned and found the answers to everything, be it why we follow old customs and traditions and even why we believe in the mystical nature of forces that we call “magic”.

Some selected projects got a chance to present their effort in front of the external judges who made the final call.

Z.P. tournaments – that’s the Zilla Parishad tournaments are like school Olympics, where almost all schools from Pune participate.

BASKET-BALL U-14 boys:
For Millennium, Z.P. tournaments kicked-off this year with the U-14 boys Basket Ball matches which had a total of 62 participating teams. The boys’ team started with a great game since the 1st match. Their confidence and their play got better with every single match they played. The score-table says it all.

Millennium boys showcased their best performance and clinched a podium position for Millennium in Basket Ball, for the very first time. Three cheers for the U-14 Boys team and the coach Dashrath Birhamane sir!!!

BASKET-BALL U-14 girls:
The girls’ team were definitely under pressure after the boys set their mark at the Z.P. tournament. The goal was to secure a position at least in the top 3 from the 52 teams participating.

Special mention here was the match against DAV, where DAV was leading till the 3rd quarter by almost 13 points. Millennium girls pounced back in the 4th quarter to secure their place in the semis – a path that led them to the Silver.
Amazing spirit girls, you made Millennium proud. Cheers for the coaches – Dasharath Birhamane sir, Pradeep Zende sir and Prakash Palkar sir.

KHO-KHO U-14 girls:

Millennium started coaching for this typical Indian sport, which endures your entire physique since the last 3 years. To participate in the Z.P. tournaments was in itself a big step. Icing on the cake was securing the 2nd position in the tournament.

This feat was only possible under the able guidance of Ganesh Birangal sir, Siddharth Jadhav sir and Marathe sir.
Hats off girls for making a mark out there!

VOLLEY BALL U-14 girls:
This U-14 team and very own Kuldip Konde sir targeted only the bulls-eye this year, after knowing the pain of being the runners-up for 2 consecutive years. The court has witnessed the team practice, practice and only practice since the announcement of the Z.P. tournaments.

The team played like a champion-team right throughout the tournament and made it finally – 1st position in Z.P. tournament.
The team now qualifies for the Zonal matches – a great achievement for Millennium, along with an individual award presented to Ms. Samikhsa Zagade for ‘Best Smasher – Z.P.’.
Hard work does makes wishes come true.

VOLLEY BALL U-14 boys:
The boys’ volley-ball team proved they are no less after giving remarkable performances in matches one after the other.

In a very close match for the 3rd place, the boys played assertively to secure a 3rd place in the Z.P. tournaments.
Amazing play boys, and a special mention to the coaches – Sachin Ghadge sir and Sachin Chavan sir, who coached Atharva Zope too along with others, to be awarded the ‘Best Player of the tournament’.

The Z.P. tournaments this year has been a shining one for Millennium, with Gold, Silver and Bronze coming in from all sides.

Teachers play a very important role in the development of a child. However, their efforts are seldom appreciated. That is why Teachers’ Day is so significant to the teachers.

We celebrate Teachers’ Day on 5th of September every year in honour of the teachers who spend so much time teaching us so many things. Originally, this day was the birthday of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. When the students of the great teacher Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan wanted to celebrate his birthday, he said that his birthday should be celebrated as Teachers’ Day all over India.

This year, in Millennium National School, the teachers’ day started with the National Anthem. Jr. Kg kids sang a song called – “Hello, happy teachers day”. Then the teachers performed a skit for the kids. They enacted some wrong behaviour of kids and then asked the students if the behaviour was correct or wrong. In this way, good behaviour was re-inforced in all the kids.

On teachers’ day, the kids gifted the teachers with good behaviour! All in all it was a great day. We once again wish all our teachers a happy teacher’s day!

The 15th of August is the most important day in the history of India. On this fortunate day, our country became free after many centuries. The British left India with bag and baggage. We celebrate this day with great zeal every year. This year too, great preparations were made in the school. Everyone was eager to take part in the Independence Day Celebration.

Teachers painted the tricolour flags on the hands of each kid. At the KG entrance, there was a tricolour activity. Nursery kids drew a tricolour tree while our Junior KG kids drew a tricolour flag with crumpled paper. Our Senior KG kids did free drawing in tricolour.

The KG Independence Day celebration started on a patriotic note with the National Anthem sung beautifully by all the kids and played divinely on the synthesizer by the teacher. It ended with patriotic slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”.

The teacher explained to the students how India achieved independence from the British rule. She also showed the photos of various freedom fighters who fought for this independence. The kids were also explained the significance of the colour of our flag and the three forces – Navy, Army, Air force which protect our country even today!

The students of Sr. Kg worked with great zeal and presented a song – “Ham sab bhartiya hain”. The feeling of patriotism could be felt in these kids! They also sang the most famous patriotic song – “Vande Mataram”. The presentation was truly enthralling as our young children displayed their talents.

The event got even more interesting as the teacher told a story about our freedom fighter, Lokmanya Tilak, who questions his teacher on why he should be punished when he’s done no wrong! The kids enjoyed this story very much.

Lastly, a video of a little soldier fighting for his country was shown to the kids. It was very inspirational and caught the kids’ attention! It showed how the little boy wanted to be a soldier who could fight for the country, when he grows up!

The event ended by thanking all the teachers involved. It was a rich learning experience for the students of KG who cherished the value of freedom and patriotism.

The sports team of Millennium set forth with its Inter House sports events for the academic year 2015-16 on Friday, 14th August 2015. Two different team events were held on the day.

Tug of War:
Two teams were directly put against each other in the test of strength. Teams pulled on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal being to bring the rope to a certain distance in one direction against the force of the opposing team’s pull.
The team effort was seen when the students collectively used all their power to pull the rope on their side. Team-mates calling each other, encouraging cheers from the audience, made the atmosphere enthralling.

Relay:
A team here consisted of 10 to 12 runners. Each runner in the team was to hand off the baton to next runner after completing a two-way 30 metres run marked on the track.
The team members were seen anxiously waiting for the current runner to complete his round and come back to hand over the baton. The team-mates bucked-up the runners. The next-to-run members were jumping on the spot, leaning towards the runner after he crossed the half-way mark back to the start point. This close relay run gripped the audience and kept them nailed to their seats.

These inter-house events made a pole position start to our inter-house sports events. The events were surely not the ones to be missed. The meticulous planning and prompt administration of the entire sports team was seen during the events. We really look forth to the next event!

Who loves puris? We all do. This is considered the “special food” in every household. Be it a much awaited Sunday or an auspicious festival, the mouthwatering and traditional puri and srikhand has remained an all-time favourite with everybody.

KG held the puri making activity on Tuesday, 18th August, 2015 in the KG kitchen. The teacher asked the students which room they were in and they said it was the kitchen. She explained that it was where mummy made chapattis and dal. The teacher showed the dry wheat flour to the kids and told them what it was. Then the kids mixed some salt and coriander leaves and the teacher added red chilly powder in wheat flour while the kids mixed it.

The teacher showed the kids how to make a dough out of wheat flour. They poured just a little water in the wheat flour and mixed it one by one until they made a dough out of it. The teacher showed them how to make small round balls from the dough. The kids followed the teacher and prepared the balls. She showed the rolling board and rolling pin. The teacher also showed the kids how to roll puri and kids rolled out puris on the rolling board with a rolling pin. Most kids rolled it very well considering it was their first time. She asked the kids what they had rolled out and they said puris.

The teacher continued to ask questions like do you fry puri in oil or water? The kids all said oil. Aunty went ahead and fried the puris in hot oil. The teacher kept the fried puris in a bowl and showed it to the kids and did a recap on how they had made it. Kids then took out plates and the teacher served puri for the kids to eat.
The kids broke the round and fluffed up puris into small pieces because it was hot and enjoyed eating it. The teacher asked how they liked eating the puris. They said yummy. The kids thanked Aunty for frying the puris, kept their plates away and washed their hands.

The whole purpose of the puri making activity for the kids was to develop the arm muscles in rolling out the puris and exercising the fingers in making the dough. Surely, the kids came out stronger than ever after working so hard at making the puris.

Like all animals and reptiles, snakes need caring too. Especially since they are the lifeline of our farmers and eat up the rats that eat up their crops. It’s for this reason that the snake is worshipped during Nag Panchami festival all over India and especially Maharashtra.

Millennium National School, Pune celebrated the Nag Panchami festival in the KG premises on 19th August, 2015 in great detail. We displayed a model of how Nag Panchami was celebrated traditionally in the olden days. Women kept fast and used to give milk to the Nag and did puja while the snake charmer played his “pungi”. Little girls put mehendi in their hands and played merrily on the swing and played “fugadi” with gay abandon.

However, in the modern days, Nag Panchami should be celebrated differently. Before the ‘Nag-Panchami’ for many days the snake charmer does not give any water to his snake. Because of this the snake drinks the milk which is offered on the day of ‘Nag-Panchami’ to satisfy its hunger and thirst. But if the milk is not digested, the snake dies. Thus by forcing snakes to drink the milk we are indirectly killing them on the day of ‘Nag-Panchami’. If we provide Pepsi or Coca-Cola for drinking, instead of milk, the snake will drink it. Women shouldn’t give milk to the snake because they don’t drink it. Instead, the milk should be given to the poor who need it more. The ultimate aim is to take care of the snake because they help our farmers.

No celebration is complete without story telling. The teacher told a Nag Panchami story to the kids and how it all started. There was a farmer who unknowingly killed the baby snakes in his field. The father snake in revenge found and killed the farmer’s wife and kids. Then the snake saw the farmer’s daughter worshipping a snake on Nag Panchami day. The snake realized that the farmer had killed unknowingly and that the snake had made a mistake. So in repentance, the snake reversed his action and took out the venom from the farmer’s wife and kids’ bodies. They came alive and from that day onwards, Nag Panchami is celebrated.

The ever active Millennium kids went on with the snake making activity to complete their involvement with the celebration. Nursery kids did ear bud spot printing of the snake with black and yellow water colour paint. Jr. KG kids sprinkled yellow and black semolina (rava) grains on fevicol and adorned the snake. Sr. KG kids made a snake from craft paper. Each kid was given four pieces of diamond-shaped chocolate brown craft paper that they stuck together at the corners with fevicol. They stuck the red forked tongue on the top. They drew eyes of the snake and scribbled all over with silver crayon. Each paper was folded and stuck until it looked and moved like a real slithery snake. Whatever the children made was distributed to them at the end of the day.

The Nag Panchami celebration was indeed an all-encompassing day of paying tribute to the snake for all that it does for mankind. We should continue to keep up this tradition and improvise on it further by taking very good care of the snake. It is our duty to take care of the snake because it helps our farmers.

Team Millennium gathered in large number along with guests, parents and children to pay respect and homage to our motherland India, who celebrated her 69th year of Independence on 15th Aug 2015.

Remembering our missile man Late Dr APJ Kalam and his words ‘The country doesn’t deserve anything less than success from us. Let us aim for successes ‘, we started our celebration with determined teamwork, as the sons and daughters of this land, which can only lead to national accomplishments and pride. Students of Std 7 & 8 marched their way towards the flag-pole with their steady steps and strong hearts.

The Indian national flag, symbolizing our nation’s thoughts, conduct, people and their beliefs, was hoisted by our senior teacher Mrs. Sanjeevani Bapat.
‘Jan-Gana-Mana’ the Anthem of our Nation was heard in unison as everyone joined the school choir. This choir from Std 8 then immaculately sang ‘Jayostute’, a song composed by Veer Sawarkar to pay tribute to our unsung heroes – the brave soldiers of our nation!

To keep the flame of patriotism burning in our hearts, and to make us realize our duties and responsibilities as citizens of the nation, the students of Std 8 performed a street play, written and directed by our drama teachers. The impressive play reminded one about the core values and what father of our nation Mahatma Gandhi had said ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’.

The ceremony concluded with a vote of thanks by the event anchor, Mrs. Prajakta Bhide, as everyone returned to their homes full of pride, respect and an urge to do something in their own way towards the motherland India.

Millennium hosted a delegation from a University overseas for the very first time, to enable our students and parents to get first-hand information about undergraduate and graduate studies abroad. Delegation from State University of New York (SUNY) at Binghamton was thus invited on Tuesday, 21st July, 2015 after school hours. University at Binghamton happens to be rated as one of the best public colleges and is amongst the top 40 universities in USA.

The leadership team from Binghamton consisting of Prof. Hari Srihari, Prof Daryl Santos and Cheryl Monachino interacted with faculty, parents and students of the school, interested in pursuing studies in the US or those willing to know more about studies in the US.

The presentation given by the team included:

• Information on the admission process (exam score in entrance exam, grades, co-curricular activities)
• Fee structure for US Citizens and foreign citizens
• Overview of Binghamton University and the community
• Indian Graduate student organization and some of their activities
• Visa process for foreign nationals

The meet concluded with a Q&A session to answer queries from parents and students.

After the session we received several positive feedbacks from attendees about the orientation held. We feel, the purpose of the orientation – to give an insider’s view to the process of studies abroad – was achieved.

Ms. Cheryl orienting the audience

Other members of the leadership team from Binghamton